MST3K 611 - Last of the Wild Horses
The Movie Synopsis From the man who went on to bring you Lost Continent and Radar Secret Service comes LOTWH. It's Oregon. Hotheaded entrepreneur and winner of the "Good Effort" trophy in Anger Management Class Charlie Cooper has developed a thriving business (the "Double C Ranch") capturing, taming and selling wild horses. The smaller ranch owners in the area feel the horses are beginning to be over-harvested and ask him to lay off for a year to replenish the herd. He is initially resistant to the idea, but after some pressure from his daughter, Jane, is exerted, he agrees. However, Cooper's villainous ranch manager Riley (Reed Hadley, who had an uncredited voice-over role in Jungle Goddess and also narrated the spellbinding introduction about radar pickets for The Deadly Mantis) is manipulating Cooper for his own nefarious purposes. Suddenly, a loaf of tasteless white bread named Duke Barnum rides in. He is apparently about to stick up his first stagecoach when he is interrupted by several ranch hands from the Double C. The crime is averted, but he's arrested for assault and suspicion of attempted robbery, and he earns their enmity. Two local ranchers, tomboy Terry (Mary Beth Hughes, aka 'Kitty' from I Accuse My Parents) and comic relief "Remedy" Williams get one look at Barnum and imagine they can reform him. They concoct transparent lies that wouldn't convince a child to persuade pushover policeman and possible pothead Sheriff Harrison to release Barnum into their custody. Barnum supposedly becomes a ranch hand on their spread, one who doesn't, as far as we can tell, ever do any work or change his shirt. Inexplicably, Terry begins metamorphizing into a woman because of Barnum's presence, which, shall we say, does not exactly exude testosterone. Barnum begins spending time with Charlie Cooper's daughter 'Jane' in a Platonic way. He is drawn into the wild horses dispute which, due to Riley's easy manipulation of Cooper, escalates to mass violence, including murder and arson. Mysteriously, "Jane" does not "stop this crazy thing". When at last Charlie Cooper discovers Riley's sinister machinations through eavesdropping, Riley and another ranchhand kill him and implicate Barnum for it. Barnum is apprehended and a murder trial gets underway with rodeo clown Remedy acting as his defense. Will the innocent Barnum hang and the real murderer go unpunished? Will this be the last of the wild horses? Will you ever see a greater number of flimsy plot devices in a movie? Warning: contains horse chases. Don't miss the thrilling climax wherein Riley and Barnum battle hand-to-hand in a hay loft. "You rarely see a good facial whipping", Dr. F. remarks. How true. Information The Episode Host Segments One of the few episodes with a distinct plot entirely unrelated to the movie being riffed, the host segments in this episode parody the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", with Tom Servo and Gypsy transported to the Mirror Universe, where Mike and the bots torment Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank with bad movies. Evil Mike and Crow also wear uniforms and play roles reminiscent of Evil Kirk and Spock from the original episode. In the normal universe, evil Tom Servo is mortified that he is being forced to watch the horrible movies, and evil Gypsy has plans to be "the Captain's Woman". Evil Tom Servo's character is reminiscent of Hikaru Sulu from the Mirror Universe. Prologue: Mike programs Crow and Tom with regional speech patterns Segment One: Dr. F sends a matter transference device to the SOL during an ion storm. It’s “Mirror-Mirror” time! Segment Two: The Mirror-Mads sing “Joey the Lemur". In our universe, Crow and Mike struggle with Mirror-Servo Segment Three: Mike and Crow plot strategy, while Mirror-Gypsy and Mirror-Servo do likewise Segment Four: Mike and Crow consult The Alternate Universe Manual. In the mirror universe, Mirror-Crow attacks Mirror-Mike while Tom and Gypsy plot strategy Segment Five: Everything back to more or less normal, Mike and the bots try to sort out what happened. The Mirror-Mads visit via Hexfield while a letter is read. Back in Deep 13, the Mads are enjoying their new agony booth. Stinger: The head of the Double C ranch laughs. Obscure References * "'Awakenings'!" Awakenings was a 1990 movie starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. * "...and this right here is the Eight of Chris Lemmon!" A reference to Jack Lemmon's son Chris, as well as a call back to the invention exchange in episode 517, Beginning of the End. * "Life as a Dog: The Western Version!" A reference to the 1985 Swedish film My Life as a Dog. *''"Now go do that voodoo that you do so well!"'' Servo is echoing a similar scene in Blazing Saddles, when Hedy -- er, Hedley -- Lamarr sends out his gang of outlaws, Nazis, bikers, bandidos, Arabs, and Klansmen to destroy the town. *''"It's Magritte!"'' Remedy is wearing a hat similar to the one in René Magritte's famous self-portrait, The Son of Man. *''"Give it up for my posse!"'' A reference to a line often used by Arsenio Hallon his talk show. *"Building code invented, and under fire." A long-running joke on this show, based on the observation that many of the fake newspapers shown in old movies had the headline "BUILDING CODE UNDER FIRE" on them. Notes The idea of the Mads being the ones trapped aboard the Satellite watching bad movies was first used in a host segment in Gamera vs Guiron (KTMA). Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 6 Category:Western Category:Star Trek spoofs Category:Unrated movies Category:Episodes directed by Kevin Murphy